Global Pulse

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  • Why keeping youth discontent in check remains Indian PM Modi’s biggest challenge

    Why keeping youth discontent in check remains Indian PM Modi’s biggest challenge

    Last month, widespread street protests led by India’s Gen Z over repeated incidents of standardized entrance exam leaks forced the resignation of then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. While the resignation allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to defuse an immediate political crisis, analysts warn that simmering youth discontent over systemic failures in education and employment will remain a persistent, long-term challenge for the government. In the immediate aftermath of Pradhan’s departure, Modi moved quickly to implement immediate, visible reforms: he established fast-track courts to prosecute individuals accused of orchestrating exam leaks, and tapped Nandan Nilekani, a prominent Indian tech billionaire, to lead a national initiative to overhaul the country’s flawed examination system. But experts agree that these targeted steps are not enough to address the deep-seated anxiety gripping India’s young population, who have grown increasingly frustrated with a system that fails to deliver quality education pathways to stable, productive livelihoods.

    Veteran economist Santosh Mehrotra, author of *India Out of Work: Rethinking India’s Growth Story*, described the dual crisis facing Asia’s largest economy in comments to the BBC. “The labour market has become brutal in the last 10 years. Non-farm jobs have not been growing and real wages have stagnated,” he explained. “India has a simultaneous problem. The economy is structurally weak as a result of which demand for labour is not growing. And our education system is so poor, that it is unable to supply new labour that is employable.” For years, the Modi government has leaned on rapid GDP growth driven by large-scale public infrastructure spending to push back against criticism of India’s uneven economic expansion. But the mass youth uprisings of last month may finally force policymakers to confront the interlocking crises of failing education and soaring youth unemployment, according to policy experts. Mehrotra notes that the expansion of India’s welfare state, particularly the rollout of direct cash transfers to low-income households, signals that the government has already recognized the severity of the crisis in private — even if it has not yet articulated a comprehensive public solution. The scale of the problem, however, is enormous.

    India is home to the world’s largest youth population: more than 360 million people between the ages of 15 and 29. Over the past two decades, the country has made notable gains in expanding access to education, with enrollment rates climbing and the number of private colleges and vocational training institutes growing exponentially. Yet the 2026 *State of Working India* report from Azim Premji University confirms that the transition from classroom to the workforce remains one of the country’s most intractable social challenges, especially for young graduates. Data from the report shows that youth unemployment rates are nearly four times higher than unemployment among older workers, and far outpace global averages. Graduate unemployment has hovered between 35% and 40% for the last 25 years, but the crisis has been amplified in recent decades by India’s demographic boom and rising education attainment. In 1983, just 4% of Indians aged 20 to 29 held graduate degrees, and 13% of those graduates were out of work. By 2023, that share of young graduates jumped to 28% — and 67% of those graduates remained unemployed.

    The disconnect between growing graduate numbers and available skilled jobs lies at the heart of the crisis. While India has produced millions of new graduates annually, the expansion of the educated workforce has not been matched by a corresponding increase in graduate-level employment. Between 2004-05 and 2023, India added roughly five million new graduates to the workforce each year, but only around 2.8 million of those graduates secured any form of employment, and an even smaller share landed stable salaried roles. This mismatch has driven up unemployment and suppressed wage growth for young workers. Worse, the *State of Working India* report finds that hard work and educational ambition rarely translate to stable success today: barely 3.7% of graduates and post-graduates secure white-collar roles, and fewer than 7% land permanent salaried positions.

    Experts emphasize that this crisis cannot be fixed with short-term policy patches. Mehrotra argues that reviving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have never fully recovered from the 2016 demonetization policy that removed 86% of India’s circulating currency in four hours, and the uneven rollout of the national goods and services tax, could deliver some near-term job gains. But India needs a sweeping new industrial policy focused on revitalizing the country’s manufacturing sector to create enough jobs for its growing youth workforce, he adds. Manufacturing’s share of India’s GDP has fallen from 17% in 2015 to 14% today. Manufacturing employment declined for five years after 2015, and has only rebounded slightly to pre-decline levels in recent years. Compounding this, total agricultural employment has risen by 80 million since 2020, a trend that Mehrotra calls a clear indicator of widespread disguised unemployment. In most fast-growing industrializing economies, workers typically move out of low-productivity agricultural work into manufacturing or services; the reverse trend in India signals a deep failure of job creation.

    In recent years, the rise of artificial intelligence has added an entirely new layer of pressure to India’s job market, upending the business model of the software services industry that has been the backbone of India’s middle-class growth for three decades. A 2024 report from Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that between 8% and 12% of non-farm jobs in India are at risk of displacement by AI, and the impacts of this shift are already visible. Neeti Sharma, CEO of Team Lease Digital, one of India’s leading staffing agencies, told the BBC that IT hiring growth has slowed to single digits in recent months, while unstable contract work has become the norm and wages have remained stagnant for years. The stable knowledge-based jobs that Indian STEM graduates once took for granted are no longer available in large numbers.

    The growing frustration in the once-thriving tech sector boiled over into public view recently, when a corporate event hosted by HCL Technologies, one of India’s largest software firms, in Chennai was disrupted by hundreds of employees chanting in unison for wage increases. The protest underscored how the tech industry, once seen as a golden ticket to upward mobility, has ceased to deliver on that promise for many young workers. Sharma argues that both young workers and educational institutions need to adapt to this new reality: graduates must abandon the expectation of traditional white-collar office jobs, and post-secondary institutions must shift their focus from academic degree programs to vocational skills training, as employers increasingly prioritize demonstrated skills over formal degrees. This means that even degree-holding young Indians may need to pursue careers in skilled trades such as plumbing, electrical work, and automotive repair, rather than expecting comfortable, air-conditioned office roles.

    As leading market investor Devina Mehra observed on social platform X, this shift means that India’s current young generation can no longer take for granted that they will achieve a higher standard of living than their parents. For India, still in an early stage of economic development, stagnating earnings for a large share of the workforce could be a “disaster” — one that the Modi government will need to prioritize aggressively to avoid long-term social and political unrest.

  • Brisbane police arrest wanted man after dramatic Moorooka shopping centre chase caught on dashcam

    Brisbane police arrest wanted man after dramatic Moorooka shopping centre chase caught on dashcam

    A high-stakes police pursuit that wound through suburban Brisbane ended in a dramatic manhunt through a busy shopping centre carpark, with two people now in custody facing a string of serious motor vehicle offences. The tense operation unfolded on Friday evening, starting just after 7:25 pm when patrol officers spotted a man and a woman exiting a residence on Spencer Street in Redbank, climbing into a stolen Mercedes sedan.

    Law enforcement immediately began tracking the vehicle as the 30-year-old male driver sped toward inner-city Brisbane, with officers alleging he operated the car in an extremely dangerous manner at excessive speed throughout the pursuit. To stop the fleeing vehicle, police deployed a tyre deflation device on a road leading into Moorooka, which successfully punctured one of the Mercedes’ front tyres. Undeterred, the driver continued moving, grinding the flattened rim along the asphalt for several kilometres before abandoning the car near Moorooka Square and fleeing on foot into the open shopping centre precinct.

    Newly released dashcam footage from Queensland Police captures the next intense phase of the operation: an unmarked police vehicle cuts across marked parking bays and navigates around dozens of stationary parked cars at high speed, as officers close the gap on the running suspect. Within minutes of the suspect entering the carpark, officers cornered and arrested him without further incident.

    Following the male suspect’s capture, police launched a secondary search for the 29-year-old woman who had remained with the vehicle. Authorities allege she drove the damaged Mercedes away from the shopping centre precinct as officers focused on apprehending the male suspect. A second tyre deflation device was deployed to stop her vehicle, and she was taken into custody shortly after.

    The 30-year-old male suspect has been charged with nine separate criminal offences, including two counts of unauthorised use of a motor vehicle, one count of dangerous vehicle operation, and one count of unlicensed driving. He made his first court appearance at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday. The female co-accused faces a single charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, and is scheduled to appear at the same Brisbane court on 31 August.

  • China steps up ‘propaganda blitz’ in Turkey amid investment fallout

    China steps up ‘propaganda blitz’ in Turkey amid investment fallout

    When Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD paused plans to construct a manufacturing plant in Turkey back in June, shifting its production priorities to existing European facilities, the decision sent ripples through bilateral relations between Ankara and Beijing. What made the reversal particularly awkward for Turkey’s ruling government was the suite of generous tax breaks Ankara had already granted to BYD for domestic vehicle sales, long before any ground was broken on the promised facility.

    The early incentives have already paid major dividends for BYD: the automaker’s Turkish sales skyrocketed to more than 45,000 units in 2025, and industry experts estimate the tax advantages have netted the firm between $500 million and $1 billion in extra profits from the Turkish market to date. The collapse of the plant deal left Beijing’s reputation in Turkey on shaky ground, prompting a sweeping public relations push to reverse the growing negative sentiment, according to a Turkish government consultant who spoke to Middle East Eye.

    Ankara, the consultant added, has grown increasingly frustrated with what it views as a pattern of Chinese negotiating behavior: creating the perception that a final binding agreement has been reached, only to return to the table later with an expanded list of new demands. For observers who track China’s activities in Turkey closely, the accelerated PR campaign has been impossible to miss.

    China’s embassy in Ankara has begun placing unsigned, pro-Beijing opinion pieces in pro-government Turkish media, emphasizing the strategic importance of high-level ties between the Chinese Communist Party and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The embassy has also pushed widespread coverage of the launch of *Volume Five of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China* across government-aligned Turkish media outlets.

    Nurettin Akcay, a Turkish academic who specializes in Chinese affairs, confirms that the BYD collapse has undeniably amplified anti-China sentiment among the Turkish public. He notes, however, that the expansion of China’s public diplomacy work in Turkey is not an entirely new development—Beijing has long cultivated ties with Turkish journalists and opinion leaders, regularly organizing all-expenses-paid visits to China long before the BYD deal fell through.

    Turkey and China have navigated a fraught bilateral relationship for more than a decade, with the status of the Uyghur people serving as the most persistent and divisive sticking point. Until 2020, Ankara worked to limit critical Turkish media coverage of human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, holding out hope that the gesture would clear the way for large-scale Chinese investment. In a high-profile step to improve ties at Beijing’s request, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited the Uyghur-majority Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in June 2024, a trip billed as resolving one of the core barriers to closer economic cooperation. Yet despite months of negotiations in the wake of Fidan’s visit, the promised electric vehicle plant investments from both BYD and fellow Chinese automaker Chery have yet to move forward.

    Akcay, who earned his PhD from Shanghai University, has faced personal repercussions for his public tracking of Chinese lobbying efforts in Turkey. He recently revealed via social media platform X that Shanghai University sent him an official email notifying him that the institution had received dozens of complaints over his critical reporting on China. As a result, the university asked him to stop publicly referencing his PhD degree earned at the school, and Akcay says he now expects he will be permanently barred from re-entering China.

    Akcay explains that Beijing’s current outreach strategy in Turkey centers on what he terms “elite engagement”: a curated form of showcase diplomacy that invites prominent Turkish figures to visit carefully selected sites across China to project a sanitized, positive image of the country to the Turkish public. Last month, for example, the China-Turkey Friendship Foundation—a Chinese state-funded organization—organized an eight-day press tour to Xinjiang for journalists from leading Turkish opposition and independent outlets, including T24, Halk TV, Cumhuriyet and Haberturk TV.

    None of the participating journalists published coverage echoing international allegations of systemic mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang; instead, their reports focused on what they described as terrorist threats from radical groups in the region and China’s economic integration policies. Multiple outlets used nearly identical phrasing in their coverage, highlighting Xinjiang’s central role to China’s industrial growth and the Belt and Road Initiative, while framing tourism as a core driver of the region’s development.

    This curated narrative directly contradicts findings from global human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch’s 2026 World Report documented that Chinese authorities have tightened ideological controls across Xinjiang and Tibet over the past year, while continuing a harsh campaign of forced assimilation against Uyghur and Tibetan communities. The organization notes that there has never been accountability for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain arbitrarily detained. Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in extrajudicial “re-education camps,” demolished thousands of mosques and Islamic cemeteries, and banned religious education for Uyghur communities across Xinjiang.

    “Everything is planned, and China gets precisely what it wants because visitors are shown only what they are intended to see,” Akcay said. “Consequently, journalists who visit China encounter a positive picture without fully understanding the broader context of human rights abuses in the region.”

    Beyond outreach to journalists and ruling party allies, China’s recent influence campaign in Turkey has expanded to include direct engagement with Turkey’s opposition parties, including the conservative Islamist New Welfare Party and the nationalist Victory Party. A New Welfare Party delegation traveled to China in June, and Chinese Ambassador to Turkey Jiang Xuebin met the party’s chairman Fatih Erbakan just last month. Akcay says Beijing has worked to build positive ties with nearly all of Turkey’s opposition factions, regardless of size, with the Uyghur issue once again serving as the core motivating factor.

    Right-wing opposition parties in Turkey can speak relatively openly about the Uyghur issue because it resonates strongly with their conservative, nationalist voter bases, Akcay explains. By cultivating ties across the entire political spectrum, Beijing aims to blunt rising domestic criticism of China within Turkey, and prevent that criticism from escalating into large-scale grassroots campaigns against Chinese investment or policy. While Akcay does not believe the campaign has completely reshaped Turkish public opinion of China, he assesses that the strategy has been partially successful in preventing the emergence of a coordinated, radical counter-movement.

    “China is seeking to minimise domestic criticism within Turkey by pursuing a broad engagement strategy,” he noted, adding: “It may not completely transform public perceptions, but it is pursuing an effective strategy to prevent the emergence of a radical counter-campaign.”

  • EU calls for stronger borders after Ceuta migrant crossings

    EU calls for stronger borders after Ceuta migrant crossings

    A sudden, chaotic mass crossing of thousands of migrants from Morocco into Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta at the end of July has sent ripples of division across the European Union, prompting top EU leaders to demand coordinated collective action to strengthen the bloc’s external border security.

    In the wake of the unprecedented influx, latest official updates show that more than 69,500 of the migrants who entered Ceuta have already traveled back to Morocco — a figure that outpaces the initial projection of 50,000 returnees. The human cost of the crisis has been steep: 72 people have been confirmed dead on the Spanish side of the border, while an additional 11 fatalities have been recorded on Moroccan territory.

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for unified EU action to address gaps in border management, following the crisis. In a formal letter addressed to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, von der Leyen commended the Spanish government for its rapid response to the emergency, but stressed that the incident exposed critical weaknesses that demand collective remediation.

    “From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points,” von der Leyen wrote. She emphasized that protecting the EU’s shared external borders is a collective responsibility for all member states, calling for enhanced vigilance, targeted monitoring and the deployment of physical infrastructure to secure high-risk crossing points where necessary.

    To address the fallout and map out a coordinated path forward, EU interior ministers will hold an emergency video conference on Tuesday. During the talks, the bloc will work to identify key lessons from the Ceuta crisis, with von der Leyen noting that irregular migration is a shared challenge that can only be resolved through a unified, collective European response rooted in solidarity.

    She laid out five core priorities for the bloc to ramp up its action: partnering with non-EU source and transit countries to prevent irregular departures in the first place; bolstering security and capacity at the EU’s external borders; rolling out continent-wide early warning systems for migration surges; dismantling transnational human smuggling networks; and streamlining processes for the safe return of migrants who do not qualify for asylum or residency.

    The crisis has already exposed deep rifts within the EU’s 27 member states over migration and border policy. In response to the Ceuta crossings, Italy unilaterally announced a temporary suspension of its Schengen Area border-free arrangements with Spain. The Schengen Agreement, one of the EU’s landmark integration projects, eliminates internal border checks across 29 European countries, serving a population of more than 450 million people.

    Italy’s move drew public backing from Finland and Denmark, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš went a step further, calling for Spain to be temporarily suspended from full Schengen membership entirely.

    Sánchez has pushed back sharply against these actions, noting that Ceuta has never been part of the Schengen Area, and that the crossing rules for the exclave do not fall under Schengen’s jurisdiction. The Spanish prime minister said he holds “serious concerns” about the positions taken by some fellow EU governments, acknowledging that most member states have offered Madrid support and solidarity, but accusing others of launching unfair political attacks driven by prejudice, misinformation, ignorance or domestic political gain.

    Spain has blamed criminal human traffickers for engineering the mass crossing, saying the smuggling networks exploited a recent ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court that restricted the government’s authority to carry out immediate deportations of irregular migrants who arrive by sea. As of Saturday, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed that the situation in Ceuta has nearly returned to full normalcy. The government is currently developing a new inflatable floating barrier to block future unauthorized water crossings in the region.

  • Charred homes, burned out cars – before and after images show Spokane wildfire destruction

    Charred homes, burned out cars – before and after images show Spokane wildfire destruction

    When wildfires swept through parts of Spokane, Washington state in recent days, the scale of the destruction they left behind has been laid bare in stark side-by-side imagery. The verification team at BBC has conducted a detailed comparative analysis, cross-referencing user-posted videos captured in the immediate aftermath of the blaze with archived street-level photographs taken of the same neighborhoods before the fire reached the area.

    The resulting comparison leaves no room for doubt about the ferocity of the wildfire. What once stood as occupied family homes are now nothing more than blackened, charred foundations, their structures completely reduced to ash. Private vehicles parked along residential streets have been turned into melted, burned-out hulks, their metal frames warped by the extreme heat of the advancing flames. Every frame of the comparison highlights how entire blocks of the community have been fundamentally altered by the disaster, with little left intact in the most severely affected areas.

    This visual verification work comes as local emergency management teams continue to work through the process of counting damaged and destroyed structures, and accounting for displaced residents. By matching geolocated post-fire footage to pre-fire street imagery, the BBC Verify team has been able to independently confirm the scope of the damage that has already been reported by local officials, giving the public a clearer understanding of just how much the Spokane area has lost to the ongoing wildfire event.

  • Josh Addo-Carr sends emotional message to injured ‘brother’ Latrell Mitchell

    Josh Addo-Carr sends emotional message to injured ‘brother’ Latrell Mitchell

    Australian rugby league star Josh Addo-Carr has opened up about his deep worry for long-time teammate and close friend Latrell Mitchell, as the injured center continues his prolonged battle to return to competitive play. Addo-Carr also revealed he holds out strong hope that the pair can rekindle their devastating on-field partnership at the upcoming Rugby League World Cup this October.

    Mitchell, who plies his trade with South Sydney, has not featured in a match since Round 11 of the current NRL season, sidelined by persistent back and calf injuries that ultimately forced him to miss the entire 2024 State of Origin series. Two weeks ago, South Sydney confirmed Mitchell had consulted a specialist neurologist to address complex nerve damage, a frustrating injury that has kept him off the pitch for months. He is also set to miss this weekend’s Indigenous Round clash against Parramatta, leaving the rugby league community and his closest loved ones waiting anxiously for his recovery.

    In a candid interview, Addo-Carr shared that he stays in regular contact with Mitchell to check on his progress. “I speak to him all the time,” the veteran winger said. “I rang him the other day and said ‘love you, brother’. You don’t wish injuries upon any player – everyone wants to play every week and train every day. But this is just how things are right now. I always make sure to check in, I know he’s doing everything he can to get back out there. He’s my brother, and I hope he returns very, very soon.”

    The Australian national Kangaroos squad is also pinning its hopes on Mitchell regaining full fitness in time for the World Cup, which kicks off on October 15. The pair delivered a historic performance for Australia at the 2021 (held 2022) tournament, where Mitchell scored two tries in the final victory and Addo-Carr crossed for 12 tries across the opening four games on Australia’s way to lifting the world title. Their left-edge combination was widely regarded as unstoppable throughout that campaign.

    For Addo-Carr, a spot in the 2024 World Cup squad remains within reach. The winger has notched six tries so far this NRL season – his lowest seasonal tally since his debut year – but remains in contention after a strong showing on last year’s Ashes tour. With key contenders Xavier Coates sidelined by an Achilles injury and Mark Nawaqanitawase switching codes to rugby, Addo-Carr has held multiple conversations with Kangaroos head coach Kevin Walters about his selection prospects.

    “That would be mad if I got picked,” Addo-Carr said. “I’ve had a few phone calls with Kevvy, we check in all the time, we’ve got a really close connection. I’ve told him I definitely won’t let him down, so hopefully I get that call up. I’d love nothing more than to pull on that Kangaroos jersey again. When someone backs you, you don’t want to disappoint. He gave me an opportunity last year, and I won’t let him down this time.”

    Reflecting on the 2022 World Cup camp, Addo-Carr called it the best representative camp of his career. “We played the hardest teams in the world, and we came out on top,” he said. “That Aussie camp, with the coaches and all the players, it’s such a fun environment. We work hard together during the week, and getting to play footy together is the best part. I absolutely love being there and representing the best country in the world.”

    While Australia enters the tournament as defending champions and pre-tournament favorites, much of the pre-tournament hype has centered on a formidable New Zealand forward pack that many tip to challenge the Kangaroos’ crown. When asked about growing external hype around the Kiwis and doubt cast on Australia’s chances, Addo-Carr brushed off the chatter. “They can talk all they want,” he said. “We just stay humble, go about our business, that’s what Australians do. Hopefully I get the call up, and I won’t let Kevvy down, I won’t let our country down, and I won’t let my teammates down.”

  • ICC states decision on Karim Khan ‘inherently political’, says leading criminal law expert

    ICC states decision on Karim Khan ‘inherently political’, says leading criminal law expert

    The unexpected dismissal of International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan by the court’s governing body, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), has ignited fierce debate across the global legal community, with leading international law experts warning that the move poses a profound threat to the long-held principle of prosecutorial independence at the world’s highest permanent criminal tribunal. On July 24, ASP delegates voted to remove Khan from office after upholding a finding that he had engaged in “serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty” through inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate staff member. Khan has repeatedly and vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing against him.

    This outcome directly contradicted the earlier findings of an independent judicial panel convened specifically to evaluate evidence gathered through a United Nations-led fact-finding probe. In March, three impartial judges appointed by the ASP’s executive bureau unanimously ruled that the evidence presented failed to prove any violation of the ICC’s governing legal framework. A month before the full ASP vote, however, the 21-member ASP bureau disregarded the judicial panel’s conclusion and issued its own recommendation that Khan be removed, citing an alleged sexual relationship with a subordinate as the core violation. Adding further controversy to the process, the bureau also modified voting procedures to lower the threshold for removal, replacing the original requirement of two separate votes—one on whether misconduct occurred, and a second on whether removal was warranted—with a single up-or-down vote on dismissal.

    William Schabas, a preeminent international law professor at Middlesex University and one of the world’s leading authorities on the ICC, has emerged as a prominent critic of the process, warning that the dismissal has inflicted lasting damage on the court’s integrity and the independence of the prosecutorial office. Schabas argues that the ASP, as a fundamentally political body whose delegates vote according to directives from their national governments, is not suited to deliver impartial, judicial findings of misconduct. He points out multiple critical flaws in the ASP’s final decision: it does not qualify as a formal judicial judgment, it fails to outline which evidence the body accepted or rejected, and it never explicitly identifies the specific actions that are deemed to constitute “serious misconduct”.

    Schabas notes that while some delegates likely voted for dismissal based on a genuine belief that Khan had violated rules, particularly after a high-profile CNN interview with the complainant, many other votes were almost certainly driven by political motivations. He specifically highlights that widespread anger among certain ICC member states over Khan’s decision to pursue war crime prosecutions against Israeli leaders was a major contributing factor to the dismissal. He added that other states may have voted to remove Khan in exchange for concessions from either Israel or the United States, which has openly opposed the ICC’s probe into Israeli actions in Gaza.

    Khan made history during his tenure as the first ICC prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for sitting leaders of non-African states. The targets of his warrants included Russian President Vladimir Putin for actions in Ukraine, Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing, senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and most controversially, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan’s May 2024 request for warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip marked the first time the ICC has pursued criminal charges against leaders of a Western-aligned state. The move immediately triggered harsh retaliation from the United States, which imposed sanctions on Khan, his two deputy prosecutors, and eight ICC judges. In the weeks leading up to the dismissal vote, senior U.S. officials openly vowed to “dismantle the ICC, brick by brick” over the prosecution, with former President Donald Trump explicitly stating that the U.S. campaign against the court is intended to protect Netanyahu. The ICC is currently hearing Israeli appeals to invalidate the arrest warrants.

    Looking ahead to the future of the court, Schabas warns that Khan’s dismissal has already created a chilling effect that will shape the work of the next ICC prosecutor. He explained that the next person to hold the role will constantly operate under the threat that independent investigations or arrest warrants targeting powerful leaders or high-priority state interests could provoke retaliation through disciplinary proceedings. Beyond the immediate threat to the next prosecutor, Schabas argues that the entire disciplinary process in this case was improvised and violated the formal procedures outlined in the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, and the court’s existing rules of evidence and procedure. He emphasized that current ICC rules do not provide adequate protection for prosecutorial independence, noting that due process is critical not only to protect the personal rights of the sitting prosecutor but also to safeguard the institutional independence of the office itself.

    To address these fundamental flaws, Schabas is calling for a full revision of the ICC’s governing rules to require that any future effort to remove an elected prosecutor be decided through a formal judicial process, rather than a political vote by the ASP. He argues that for prosecutorial independence to be meaningful, a prosecutor must be secure in the knowledge that they can only be removed from office after a properly constituted tribunal of independent, impartial judges has made a formal finding of misconduct, and that if such a tribunal clears the prosecutor, the ASP should have no authority to overrule that decision and order removal. Schabas’ concerns echo broader criticism from human rights groups and other legal experts, who have widely scrutinized the bureau’s handling of the investigation and raised repeated alarms that the entire process was politicized and failed to meet basic standards of due process.

  • US reports first two deaths linked to ‘explosive diarrhoea’ outbreak

    US reports first two deaths linked to ‘explosive diarrhoea’ outbreak

    A nationwide parasitic outbreak that has sickened thousands of people across the United States has claimed its first confirmed lives, Michigan state health officials announced this week. Two people in Michigan, the state at the center of the ongoing cyclospora outbreak, have died from complications tied to the infection, marking the first reported fatalities in this widespread public health incident.

    State health authorities shared that both deceased individuals lived with significant pre-existing chronic health conditions, which may have been severely exacerbated by cyclosporiasis infection and subsequent dehydration. No further personal or demographic details about the victims have been released to the public at this time.

    Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the foodborne outbreak has already reached 45 U.S. states, with close to 7,000 cases formally confirmed through laboratory testing. In Michigan alone, state records track more than 11,000 suspected cases and 193 hospitalizations, though a large share of those cases have not received laboratory confirmation. Despite the large number of infections across the country, CDC officials emphasize that cyclospora-related deaths are extremely rare. The parasite is not typically classified as a life-threatening threat for most otherwise healthy people.

    Cyclospora cayetanensis, the heat-loving parasite responsible for the outbreak, infects the human intestinal tract and spreads through fecal contamination of food or water supplies. Historically, most outbreaks have been traced back to fresh fruits and vegetables that were irrigated with water contaminated with fecal matter.

    Public health investigators have officially linked this year’s widespread outbreak to leaf lettuce imported from a Taylor Farms processing facility in central Mexico, a major supplier that distributes produce to countless food service operations and restaurants across the U.S. In response to the outbreak connection, major U.S. fast-food chain Taco Bell moved quickly to remove all lettuce sourced from this Mexican facility from its menus nationwide. Taylor Farms has also implemented a voluntary recall of all lettuce harvested from its central Mexico growing operations.

    The outbreak has drawn international attention as well: UK health authorities have issued a public warning to travelers returning from the U.S. after documenting a small number of cases among recent visitors who fell ill after their trip.

    To reduce public risk of infection, the CDC is urging consumers to wash all fresh produce under running tap water, even products that are marketed and labeled as pre-washed. The agency notes, however, that standard washing practices may not fully eliminate the parasite from contaminated produce. For full decontamination, the CDC recommends cooking all fresh produce to an internal temperature of at least 70°C (158°F), a step that reliably kills the cyclospora parasite.

  • Veteran cafe owner says he would not open his business in today’s economy

    Veteran cafe owner says he would not open his business in today’s economy

    Thirty years after leaving Ecuador to build his coffee legacy in Australia, Gerardo Barrios, owner of Don Adan Coffee, is sounding a stark alarm: small businesses across the country are facing the harshest operating conditions in modern history, and he would never launch his business if he were starting out today.

    Barrios’ family ties to coffee stretch back nine generations, all the way to the era of Napoleon III, blending Ecuadorian heritage with Australian local enterprise across his two cafe locations. But even with deep industry roots and loyal community support, cascading cost increases are squeezing already razor-thin profit margins to breaking point.

    “Every additional cost matters,” Barrios explained in an interview with NewsWire. “When you’re dealing with rising wages, utilities and supply costs all at the same time – every extra dollar is money that could help a local business grow and employ people.”

    Australia’s national minimum wage rose to $26.44 an hour ($1004.90 weekly) starting July 1 this year, a change designed to support working households but one that has added immediate strain to small business cash flow. While economists argue higher wages will boost broader consumer spending, Barrios says the immediate impact for small operators has left almost no breathing room for working capital. “The cash flow for businesses is now almost non-existent,” he said.

    Barrios’ experience aligns with the first-ever AMP Bank GO small business cost pressure index, which found overall operating costs for Australian small businesses have surged by almost 25% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no relief in sight. AMP Bank GO director John Arnott says cost increases will keep climbing through 2027, driven largely by rising wage bills, which account for roughly half of the index’s total weighting.

    “Small businesses are caught in the middle. Their own bills keep rising, but their customers are watching every dollar,” Arnott said. “Many have absorbed as much as they can, but there comes a point where those costs have to show up somewhere.” That means Australian consumers should prepare for another round of price increases as struggling operators look to recoup lost revenue.

    Arnott noted that public discussion about post-pandemic cost pressures has focused almost exclusively on household budgets, leaving small business struggles largely out of the spotlight. The index was created to fill that gap, he said, and feedback from hundreds of small operators confirms conditions are the worst they have ever seen. Common stories from business owners include laying off staff for the first time in decades, and openly questioning whether they can keep their doors open long-term.

    Barrios has been proactive in working with suppliers to negotiate bulk discounts to avoid passing full cost increases to his customers, aiming to keep sales volumes steady while protecting his customer base. “Rather than just raising the price, we have to look at ways that we can maintain high volumes that will make sure that we have consistency of sales,” he explained. “And then we can go to our suppliers and say, look, I’m doing this many coffees. This is how much value I can bring to you. You surely can give me a 5 per cent discount.”

    But underlying structural pressures from the pandemic continue to weigh heavily on surviving businesses. Barrios says public perception of small business support during COVID is deeply distorted by the former Scott Morrison government’s JobKeeper program, which delivered $1500 per fortnight to eligible workers to prevent mass layoffs during lockdowns. Official reviews found 38% of the first $70 billion in JobKeeper payments went to businesses that recorded no sales declines, but Barrios points out that payments went directly to workers, not to business owners to cover fixed operating costs.

    “I didn’t get JobKeeper, my staff got JobKeeper,” he said. “I had to get loans worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, just to stay afloat, many coffee shops closed… So the ones that stay to stay afloat like me, we have to borrow money. Since we borrowed that money from Covid, the interest rates went up 16 times. So everybody was talking about the mortgage cliff but nobody was talking about the business loan cliff.”

    Insurance costs have also emerged as one of the fastest-growing expenses for small businesses, compounding pressure from wages, supply chains, and debt servicing.

    Despite the severe challenges, Barrios holds fast to the core community value that local coffee shops bring to Australian life, and has a message for consumers. At his two cafes alone, 20 children can trace their existence back to connections their parents made at his shop, and the business serves as a vital social hub for isolated community members who rely on daily visits for social connection.

    “I didn’t want to whinge about rising costs but instead provide a space for my patrons to have a good life together,” he said. “I’m going to provide a space for you to have a good life and all we want you to do is support us. This is the value we bring to the community but we’re going to be one of the very few coffee shops still providing this space as we are disappearing.”

  • Israeli court blocks Ben Gvir crocodile moat plan for prisons holding Palestinians

    Israeli court blocks Ben Gvir crocodile moat plan for prisons holding Palestinians

    A controversial plan by Israeli far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir to place Nile crocodiles in moats surrounding facilities holding Palestinian prisoners has been temporarily blocked by a Jerusalem District Court ruling, Israeli media has confirmed.

    The scheme, which had secured backing from Ben Gvir’s own ministry and the Israel Prison Service (IPS), had already seen preliminary construction work underway: crews had begun digging trenches around a portion of Ketziot Prison, located in Israel’s Negev desert. Under the proposal, predatory Nile crocodiles would be stationed in these newly dug moats as an added security perimeter around the prison complex.

    The court’s temporary injunction was issued just hours after Israeli animal welfare group Let the Animals Live filed a legal petition against the plan, naming Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, Ben Gvir, and the IPS as respondents. Notably, the legal challenge centered exclusively on risks to the crocodiles and potential harm to prison personnel, rather than addressing the longstanding documented abuses faced by Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody.

    The pathway for Ben Gvir’s proposal was cleared earlier in July 2025, when Minister Silman issued a regulatory order reclassifying Nile crocodiles from a protected native species to a “tended animal,” removing legal barriers to their transfer and deployment at the prison site. The petition disputes this regulatory change, arguing Silman sidelined formal input from legal experts and the Nature and Parks Authority, and calling for the crocodile’s protected status to be reinstated.

    In his Sunday ruling, Judge Avraham Rubin found that the claims of potential harm to the crocodiles were serious enough to warrant immediate intervention. “The claims regarding the expected harm to the crocodiles merit investigation and justify issuing an order prohibiting the transfer, or any action related to locating or preparing crocodiles for transfer,” Rubin wrote in his decision. The temporary injunction will remain in effect until a full ruling on the case, with Silman, Ben Gvir, and the IPS given until Wednesday to submit formal responses to the court.

    Israeli environmental and conservation bodies have voiced opposition to the plan from its earliest stages. Both the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Nature and Parks Authority have publicly stated that Silman’s reclassification of the Nile crocodile lacks any scientific foundation, and have echoed concerns that relocating the large predators to a high-traffic prison site puts correctional staff at unnecessary risk.

    The crocodile moat scheme is only the latest in a string of harsh measures pushed by Ben Gvir aimed at worsening already poor detention conditions for Palestinians held in Israeli custody. Previous proposals and implemented policies have included restrictions on family visitations, reduced food access, deliberate denial of medical care, extended solitary confinement, and reports of routine torture.

    The court ruling came on the same day that video footage of Ben Gvir circulated widely on social media, showing the far-right politician mocking a female Palestinian detainee who had raised complaints about inhumane conditions inside her facility.

    According to data collected by Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations, more than 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli detention facilities as of 2025. That population includes 84 women and 350 minor children, with widespread documentation of ongoing abuses including medical neglect, physical assault, sexual violence, and rape that human rights groups characterize as systematic torture against the detainee population.